Mount Apikuni and i'm feeling like everyone's feeling alone

post order; Zephyr, @Daighre, @Taikon, @Takiyok

Taikon and Takiyok have settled for the night, alongside the girl they'd found. Takiyok's relation somehow, he's gathered. All he sees is another helpless wolf to watch out for. He departs the group to patrol the perimeter of their new camp, drifting ever closer to the mountains. Their progress is slow but steady, and there's new ground to cover now, more places to check for danger. So he sets off, keeping within a few yards of the group as he scans their surroundings.

It was night, again.
 
They were in the mountains, again, alone together.
 
But not quite.
 
He could smell the other wolves in the air. Not just the scent of something cold but the scent of something—someone—strange and foreign and othering covering it. It set his teeth on edge. Made his hackles bristle along his shoulders, back, and neck. He lingered—hovered—just out of view. Observing. And when he couldn’t any longer?
 
“Frosty.”
 
The bare minimum of acknowledgement, nothing more and nothing less.
 
He could feel the phantom sting of claws across his face. The edges of broken skin now collagen sewed.

The last person he expects to see is Daighre — but somehow, it's a relief to see him alive. He senses him before he really sees him, catches the hint of his scent on the breeze and hears the familiar sound of his distinct footfalls. The greeting comes sometime after — some weird nickname, one he can't quite figure out the meaning of. It seems insulting, but he can't tell.
Daighre, He returns, stepping toward him once. Then he goes still, watching him carefully. He doesn't know what he expects.

Frosty stepped forward, and Daighre remained where he stood.
 
He settled back against his heels. Raised a single back leg to scratch at the back of one of his ears.
 
And while he did so—
 
“Fight any cougars lately?"

He bristles slightly at the question, but his tone is calm when it answers. I saw it again, He says first, and then — I don't remember what happened, when it followed me the first time. I barely remember what happened before that. If Zephyr wasn't so stoic, perhaps there'd be the hint of an accusation there. But he is, so there isn't. His tone is simply flat, as it always is.

‘I saw it again,’
 
He grunted, then, in wordless acknowledgement.
 
‘I barely remember what happened before that.’
 
“You hit your head pretty fucking hard that night, Frosty.” Not once, but twice. The sound of bone knocking against stone as he fell. The sight and scent of blood. Blown pupils and eyes that lagged just a second behind, slow and distant.

It was a wonder he was still standing, in hindsight.

His fur spikes a little more at the statement, at the implication behind them. He saw it. Maybe he did more than that. How? He asks, still level, emotionless. He'd come out of it alive, after all, so he won't make any assumptions yet.

‘How?’
 
And what the fuck did he mean, ‘How?’
 
He was the fucking scaredy cat that threw himself down a hole from just being startled. His hackles stiffened and bristled, and he sneered, his upper lip raised and the bridge of his muzzle wrinkled. His head tipped backwards, his chin raised in defiance, in disgust, in arrogance.
 
“When you fell.” Dumbass.

The response he receives strikes him as defensive, somehow. He doesn't react. Okay, He says, eyes seeking Daighre's with a hint of defiance as his own posture rises, tail flagging. This is a game he knows how to play.

He saw his posture change. Watched as his tail raised from behind him. And he snorted. Huffed. Looked somewhere into the middle distance below finally looking back.
 
“So, you really don’t fucking remember, Frosty?” He asked.
 
Fucking typical.

He gave a single step forward, rose to meet the challenge, his hackles raised and bristling and his body tense. His own tail hung high in the air behind him.

He must’ve hit his head a hell of a lot harder than he fucking thought, to forget what happened.

For a while, he dreamed of someone shouting, someone cursing at him, liquid slipping from their mouth. Maggots. The scent of vomit. He kicked in his sleep, and at last startled himself awake as he heard the dream beast shout into his ear, you really don’t fucking remember, Frosty? Taikon lifted his head in alarm, expecting nothing, and finding as he stirred that the voice was real.
Taikon plunged into defensive mode as soon as his eyes adjusted to find Zephyr not far from them. He bumped Takiyok intentionally as he flew to the silvery maiden, the fur all along his backside raising. His lips curled at once into a horrendous, uncharacteristically venomous show of teeth, and he let loose something loud and booming in his throat. He didn't know who this stranger was, and he didn't care. His nose flared. He was the only one of the lot still in good health. The prince did the math quickly. He glared, eyes dilated, staring hard at an unnerving, fiery and devilish gaze. Such a stare demanded explanation or battle.

Taki was still secretly battling quite the headache, so when she was startled awake, the force of her jolting up made a wave of nausea pass over her. She closed her eyes a moment and took a steadying breath through her nose. Then her eyes flew open and she realized something was happening—she heard a growl from Taikon, and all she could think was that the cougar was back. She picked herself up as fast as she could manage and trotted over to the scene, her fiery gaze settling on the only thing that didn't belong. 

She studied him with a cold expression before stating: You have one chance to explain why you are here. Then she would tear him apart, regardless of her aching head and her sour stomach. She had done far more through much worse.

That does it. Daighre's words startle his companions into wakefulness, and in a blink they're at his side, a far cry from the relatively passive creatures they've been with Zephyr so far. He presses a little closer to Taikon at his side, outwardly unperturbed by the sudden explosion of violent energy. He is not the one in danger here — but then, neither is Daighre. Not truly.
It's okay, His voice is level, but loud enough to carry, a response to Takiyok. He doesn't look away from Daighre. He won't hurt any of us. He's just angry by default — and we have more important battles to fight. He nudges Taikon gently, hoping to soothe his rage, finally looking to him, and then Takiyok. I'll deal with him. You should both get some more rest.

First, there were two—him, and Frostfuck—and then, there was two too many. Two random fucking nobodies that were getting involved in shit that didn’t affect them.
 
He snarled.
 
Bristled.
 
Held his ground when Goldy and The Hag appeared to save the day, or whatever fucking service or great act of charity they thought they were doing. Being fucking annoying would have been a better—more befitting—explanation, to Daighre.
 
And yet, he held his tongue.
 
Didn’t take the step forward his body and self-esteem were screaming for him to take. Self preservation was a bitch. It wasn’t until Frosty spoke up did he finally react.
 
‘He won't hurt any of us. He's just angry by default —'
 
“Eat shit, Frosty.” He spat, his stance rigid and his eyes hard. And then, upon making eye contact, and with a sharp gesture towards the two extras standing on either side of him, “What the fuck is this? An ambush?”
 
It was a pretty cheap, shitty fucking tactic, all things considered. He might as well stuck with the fucking cougar.

Takiyok reacted exactly as he expected her to, which was comforting considering her injury. Taikon waited for a signal, his paws ready to push him toward the stranger and do whatever was necessary to protect them.
Zephyr moved closer to him, and he glanced at her expression. Apathy coated her sharp face. She nudged him lightly, and like a trained dog, he relaxed noticeably, licking his lips and sheathing his teeth. Then, the fire-eyed stranger cursed at them, which set Taikon back to his default protective strategy. Taikon stepped forward a pace, holding his head high, eying the stranger. Even though it was clear that Zephyr knew this impertinent.. animal, he was not about to slink off into the darkness. Not while they had little Taktuq with them, especially. I'm not going anywhere, he said, standing firm. One wrong move, and he'd have this idiot's face off in no time.

Zephyr's suggestion that she go get some rest was irritating, as she didn't need to be told to do—anything really. She had been taking care of herself for a long time, and she wasn't about to stop doing that. She would ignore it and instead, stare down the disrespectful intruder. His combative words were met with a lift of her lip and a show of teeth as a low growl rumbled from her chest. His stupid question didn't require an answer. As far as she was concerned, he intruded near their camp and caused some kind of problem—that was enough to warrant defensive behavior from them. Her niece was sleeping just feet away, and there was no way Taki would let anything happen to her. 

Taikon seemed to have that same idea, stating that he refused to leave. She, too, was tensed to attack should it be needed.

Things devolve fairly quickly from there, leaving Zephyr slightly frustrated — both with Daighre's impressive ability to jump to conclusions, and with his companions' refusal to listen to him. He snorts softly. Fine. Then we'll go somewhere else, He turns to Daighre, gesturing for him to follow. Come on. Part of him doesn't expect compliance — but he gets it, and thankfully the tension dies away as the pair take their leave. Later he'll have to return and explain, but for now he's just happy to separate these three.